That is Why They Call Him Jesus
“Hey Jim, someone is on the phone for you. I cannot tell if they know you or if it is another solicitor,” My wife yelled to me downstairs while I was riding my exercise bike in our basement. I begrudgingly got off my exercise bike thinking I was receiving another unsolicited phone call while I climbed the steps. “Hello, this is Jim,” I said while I waited for another rehearsed sales pitch. “Hey Pastor, my family and I attended your church fifteen years ago when you pastored at Alliance Community Church.” As Mike introduced himself to me on the phone, I was able to remember him and his family. I responded, “Mike, it is so nice to hear from you. How is your wife Jen doing?” Mike began to share and update me on his family and how that they had moved to Cocoa Beach, Florida several years ago because of work. Mike then began to share why he was calling. “I wish I was calling with good news, but I felt I was led by the Lord last night to find you and ask you if you would be able visit my Uncle Ken who is dying of cancer.” He continued, “He has been moved to a hospice wing in a Fort Wayne hospital and I am pretty sure he is not a Christian.” As Mike continued to share with me, I learned that his Uncle Ken and Aunt Traci had never attended church nor had they shown much interest in Jesus. Mike was concerned for his uncle’s salvation and shared with me that he had never explained the gospel of Christ to his uncle. As Mike was praying that night for his Uncle Ken’s salvation, the Lord had led him to find me and ask if I would be able to make a visit and share the gospel with Ken. After hearing Mike’s story, I looked at my clock and realized it was getting late on a Saturday night. I asked Mike if it would be okay if I visited Ken Sunday after our Sunday morning worship service. Mike responded, “Pastor thank you so much!” “I don’t know if Ken will be awake (he was in a coma) or able to speak but I wanted him to hear the gospel and God’s love for him before he died.” After Mike and I prayed on the phone for Ken’s salvation, I knew that I would have to share this story with my church on Sunday morning. I asked our church family to pray for the Lord to bless this divine appointment by having Ken awake and alert and for the Lord to open his heart to respond to the gospel of Jesus. As I walked into Ken’s hospital room, I saw his wife Traci on the phone and Ken watching the Green Bay Packers football game with his Packers blanket covering him. Traci got off the phone and I introduced myself: “Hi Ken and Traci. I am Pastor Jim and your nephew Mike from Florida called me to request that I come and visit with you.” They shared how they have not seen Mike for several years; however, they were thankful to have a visit with me. As I was trying to get a conversation started, I commented on Ken being a Packers fan and how I have been a Bears fan for many years. Once I said that, I thought that was probably not the best way to get a die-hard Packers fan to be open to the gospel; however, Ken responded with a broken voice, “The…bears…are playing well…this year.” He gave me the remote to turn off the Packers game so we could visit and talk about why I had come…to prepare him for death and eternity. I asked Traci how long they have been married and she said proudly (with a tear in her eye), “We have been married 17 years and we lived together for two years before that.” As we talked about life, family, and work, I also heard from them that they did not attend church. I looked at Ken and said, “May I ask you a spiritual question?” He replied affirmatively and I said, “If you were to stand before God and He asked you, ‘Why should I let you into my heaven?’ what would you say?” Ken and Traci both told me they had no idea what they would say to that question. I informed Ken that was why his nephew Mike asked me to come see him, “because he wanted you to know how to get to heaven and be prepared to meet God.” I told Ken and Traci that most people think they get to heaven by having more good deeds than bad deeds. . .would they agree? They agreed, so I asked them if I could ask them a few questions in regards to God’s Law (The Ten Commandments) to see how they measured up. As Ken nodded his head towards me, I asked him several questions: “Have you ever told a lie (breaking the 9th commandment)? What would you call someone who lied? (He said yes, and responded a liar.) Have you ever stolen anything? What do you call someone who has stolen something (He said yes, and a thief)? Have you ever coveted for someone’s else things? (He said yes). I looked at Ken and Traci and said compassionately, “By your own admission, you are a lying covetous thief at heart and we only looked at a few of the commandments. Would you say that you were innocent or guilty before God for breaking His Law?” Ken responded with a laugh and said “You…got me…I would be guilty.” I responded, “Ken, I am not trying to ‘get you,’ but I have another big question for you. Since you admit you are guilty before God for breaking His law, would you go to heaven or hell when you die?” There was a silent hush in the room when Ken admitted
Death Is Nothing To Laugh About
I just read these statistics about the death rate: One hundred twenty people die each minute in the world. Seven thousand four hundred twenty-five people die each hour in the world. One hundred seventy-eight thousand people die each day in the world. Sixty-five million die each year in the world. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 7:2, “It is better to go to the house of mourning than a house of feasting because death is the destiny of everyone, and the living should take this to heart.” It’s essential to think about death, prepare for death, and to be prepared to meet God after death. I just read this past week that someone my age had just passed away. A famous comedian that I admired, a man named Norm MacDonald, died over the weekend. I’m unsure what his faith journey was, but I read several articles about him over the weekend. One thing I do know about his faith journey is that he struggled with the fear of death. He battled cancer for the past 10 years, and he was unsure what would happen after he died. He was known as a great comedian. He had made a lot of money, acquired lots of fame, but he struggled with life. He shared publicly about his struggle with gambling. He said he once went to a psychiatrist and was being treated for gambling. The psychiatrist said to him: “You gamble to avoid life.” In his deadpan response, he said: “Well, isn’t that why you do everything?” He went on to say, “I’d rather fear losing money on a football game than ruminate all night about my upcoming illness and death. My biggest problem is ruminating about death. If I could get over that somehow. I read books about it, that Becker book, Denial of Death.” When he talked about his fear of death, it made me think about what the writer in Hebrews said. Hebrews 2:14-15, “Since the children have flesh and blood, Jesus too shared in their humanity so that by his death He might destroy him who holds the power of death that is a devil and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” Norm MacDonald said this about faith and death: “God is the best. That’s what I’m trying to get to is God. Faith is the only salvation in every great novel I read, but I don’t know how to get it. I don’t know how to believe suddenly. I’m too stupid or proud or pretend I’m smart enough. I came to it a long time ago that I have to control everything, but I struggle with faith. It’s tough to keep believing because it’s the hardest thing to believe. Maybe I’m not deep enough.” It was the saddest thing to hear these quotes as he struggled with the fear of death. He feared meeting God and knew he had to have faith, but he didn’t know whom to have faith in or how to have faith. Paul wrote in Romans 10:13-16, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.” As believers, we are commanded to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others. The latest studies have shown that one in one people will die. Everyone will die and meet God. That fear of death that consumed Norm also consumes many other people. Norm needed to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and salvation in Him. He needed to know that he is a sinner separated from God now and for eternity because of his sins. The one thing he needed to do was to repent and confess his sins before a holy God and then trust that Jesus’s death and resurrection would restore him to God. Norm needed to have faith in Jesus. Norm needed someone to share the gospel with him. Romans 10:9-10 says, “That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” Jesus took away his sins on the cross, and Norm would be forgiven of his sins if he had asked Jesus to forgive him. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all in righteousness.” When you are born again and know Jesus as your Savior and Lord, death does not have victory over you. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:54b-57, “… death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Death is nothing to laugh about. Apart from Jesus Christ, there is no salvation (Acts 4:12). I mourn the loss of Norm MacDonald. I don’t know where he was in his faith journey or where he is now in eternity. But by thinking of him and ruminating over his fear of death, I realized that I need to Go & Tell others the glorious, good news of Jesus Christ. I need to share with others the gospel of Jesus Christ and that salvation is found only in Him. Through Jesus, death will be swallowed up in victory. I pray that you will Go & Tell others our salvation in Jesus for the glory of God.